Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-09-07
NO. 48.
IN A BUTTON FACTORY.
What a Brooklyn Reporter Saw in a Visia
to One of Them.


What BrooElyF, Reporter Saw in yisit
to One of Them.
A single button is an insignificant
thing and i'll money value doesn't
amount to much, but when it is stated
that in the five establishments devoted
to button making in this city there is
capital of $3.50, 900 invested, it is safe
to say that the business is considera-
BILE. Walking through Tiffany place,
in the Sixth ward, my attention was at
tracted to one of these factories. I had
never seen a button made and, in fact,
this was the nearest ever had been to
place of the kind, and for the pur-
pose of improving the opportunity [
commenced climbing two flights of
stairs that are as steep as those leading
to Miss Liberty S lofty perch on B dloe's
Island; but once inside the factory the
climbing of the steps was forgotten, as
the picture before me was full of inter-
est. There were about twenty girls at
work making OF painting buttons.
The power, drop and foot presses were
in constant motion. Il making metal
buttons the sheet is first taken and put
through the power press which turns
o!lt ~ ORC s',plls ~ y mi into thai would
49,. -, 4. .4.ns Utmost
shapeless bits Of brass or
whatever the material may be, are then
carried over to the drop, which falls on
them with a heavy thud, and the tiny
things of future use come out of it with
rim formed around the she'll The
eye maker is then put in use, and next
a machine called the closer is called
upon to perform it's duty and the but
ton is finished except in color, which
looks dull yellow, but this is reme-
died, and the metal buttons show their
brightness by being put through a
burning process in acid jars, which re-
semble ice-cream freezers. Then they
are cooled off in running water and
taken to the stamp press, which turns
quickly. and out they come with the
name of the maker stamped in the
shell part. There are made in these
establishments thousand different
varieties of metal buttons, mostly for
women's wear. Some are handsome
to look at and others are not but all
60 through the same process of manu-
featuring. The fancy buttons are taken
to the painters, whose nimble fingers
are continually busy while put
ting on the finishing touches. In
making cloth buttons man has
ten layers of material before him from
out of which, by hand work, he
punches the same number of what are
called tOughs at one time and the
whole operation works like a flash Of
lightning, SO quick is the operation
performed The toughs are then taken
alongside the shells, where one of the
work-Women attempted to show me
how a cloth button was made and
finished, but while listening to the ex-
planation of the work by the young
lady, the button was ready to 60 on
the card and be shipped for Europe or
anywhere else. She merely placed
the cloth or tough in the closing ma
chine and the eye in the tube, after
which the two were connected and q
delicate movement of the foot did the
rest, as the shell, eye and tough were
united and the cloth button was COM
pleted. Glove, shoe and all other
kinds of buttons are manufactured in
the same way [ was shown cloth
shoe button that at one time was
patented and capital of 800. 900
INV tod itC r11fo oatv1 Ta
another factory my attention was
called to metal button that
will, when thoroughly known, do away
with needle and thread. It is fastened
in the article of clothing by a self
locking machine that is as cunning as
it is simple.
The work of button-making seems to
be light and cleanly, but am sorry to
say that few of the women toilers are
ever likely ID become millionaires while
following the industry, as their weekly
wages seldom go over seven dollars,
while more often the reward for their
labor is a great deal less, running
down as low as two dollars, and
averaging. the year round, five dollars
per week; but as Brooklyn buttons go
everywhere on the face of the earth
and the business is yet in its infancy,
so to speak, it may be that in time the
bosses will be able to pay a higher rate
of wages while making more money
themselves. At any rate, button
factories are something that the gen.
eral public knows very little about, and
visit to any one of those establish
ments would prove not only profitable
but highly interesting to those OF an
inquiring turn of mind. Brooklya
Eagle.